A number of readers have urged that I write about the scheduled tax increases and spending cuts to be implemented at the end of the year. This agreement (called sequestration) will end the Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2002, increase corporate and capital gains tax rates, eliminate some dependent deductions and increase payroll taxes on workers. Some call this Taxmaggedon, as it is either the largest or seventh-largest tax increase in American history, depending on whose numbers you believe. I haven't run the numbers myself, so will split the baby and call it the 3.5th biggest tax increase in American history.

Unlike many, I believe that now is the time to go ahead with this tax increase. I argue this not because it won't tragically damage the economy and raise unemployment. It surely will. Rather I believe that we ought to raise taxes to finally end the soothing falsehoods that surround our tax policy, most especially what are called the Bush tax cuts.

One brilliancy of the Bush tax cuts is that they are virtually un-repealable. The cost of this legislative stalemate is, however, endless demagoguery and a repeated demonstration of public innumeracy. The facts make clear why this is so.

The Bush tax cut reduced taxes for the rich, who, in this context, include all households and all non-corporate businesses making more than about $50,000 per year. Richer households saw smaller percentage tax cuts than less-rich households. Perhaps some of these households and businesses used this money injudiciously by buying cars and refrigerators or hiring workers. It is hard to know for sure. But the tax cut wasn't just for this jet-setting elite.

The Bush tax cuts also eliminated all personal income taxes for those making less than $48,000 in a typical sized household or business. This is about 50 percent of all Americans, of whom about half were paying income taxes before the evil Mr. Bush cut them. So, the Bush tax cuts eliminated all income tax liability for about a quarter of Americans.

The simple arithmetic truth is that the Bush tax cuts made our income tax system more, not less progressive. Not everyone can deal with this middle school math, and so need a demonstration.

I believe a large tax increase in December will have a much-needed clarifying effect on the role of tax policy. Moreover ending the Bush tax cuts will mean that about one in four American households that currently do not pay income taxes will start. These folks are fed a steady diet of untruths about the Bush tax cuts and a large tax increase in December will starkly clarify tax policy in America for them. It will also let us get down to some serious government spending that has been so lacking of late.

Now, I don’t follow politics closely, so I don't know which party these new taxpayers tend to support in elections. But, I do have an idea who they’ll favor by the end of January.

Michael J. Hicks, PhD, is the director of the Center for Business and Economic Research and the George and Frances Ball distinguished professor of economics in the Miller College of Business at Ball State University. Hicks earned doctoral and master’s degrees in economics from the University of Tennessee and a bachelor’s degree in economics from Virginia Military Institute. He has authored two books and more than 60 scholarly works focusing on state and local public policy, including tax and expenditure policy and the impact of Wal-Mart on local economies.

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